Emerald Mound, one of the largest ceremonial
mounds in the United States, is a flat-topped earthen structure that
rises 35 feet high on eight acres along the Natchez Trace Parkway. Given
to the National Park Service in 19s50, in 1989 it became a National
Historic Landmark.

At its zenith, Emerald likely hosted large religious
and civic rituals. On either end of the platform are secondary flat-topped
mounds, probably the bases of a temple and residence of a priest or
ruler. Early drawings suggest that three smaller mounds flanked the
sides. Emerald was built and occupied between 1250 and 1600 AD by the
ancestors of the Natchez people.

The
mound was originally known as the Selzertown
site; the current name derives from the pre-Civil War era Emerald Plantation.
The first excavations took place in 1838. Measurements were taken, and
investigators noted eight secondary mounds and a large encircling trench.
Periodic excavations have taken place since, most recently in 1972.

Emerald probably served as a political center and point
of distribution for goods. Animal remains, ceramic fragments, tools,
and the stratigraphyall studied by National Park Service archeologistsoffer
a glimpse of life during Emerald's heyday.

By
the mid 20th century, erosion and plowing
had destroyed six of Emerald's secondary mounds, and part of the main
flat top. Its present-day appearance is due to stabilization by the
National Park Service, which restored and sodded the upper slopes of
the main platform in 1955.